Quick Notes!

UKG are devolving more decision making and spending power to the regions (Mayoral Combined Authorities), but the ecosystem required to support policy making has not moved. In London there are clusters of thinktanks proposing and supporting new policy ideas. What would it look like to have a local South Yorkshire thinktank with inside views on policies for South Yorkshire?

I write this from the comfort of the 7AM Sheffield to London train. The journey has been an “offline Google Docs” only affair. Occasionally I get really fast mobile data and can attempt to quickly catchup with emails but communication with the outside world is limited. My understanding is that this is not a technological problem but one of market incentives.¹ Network providers are incentivised by UKG to install phone masts based on where people live. Changing these rules to cover major commuter routes could be a quick and cheap upgrade to the UK rail network.

Since 1995, melatonin has been a prescription-only drug in the UK, why is this and what would have to happen for this to change?¹ A full cost-benefit would consider the impact it would have on nightshift workers including doctors.

I’m often in conversations about how to help UK startups raise investment. A classic question is “how do we support founders who are too early for UK venture capital?”. As I spoke to one policy maker about this very question I realised I didn’t really know if these “unfundable” people or ideas existed. I want clear case studies for funding mechanisms failing - without these it is really difficult to properly diagnose what is going wrong. I fear that in discussions about startup funding people are talking over one another as they do not have a shared understanding of what ideas are not being funded.

Cambridge Consultants has spun out twenty-seven startups and four unicorns - a track record better than any UK venture capitalist or university.¹ If CC were in the Silicon Valley, we would all know how they achieved this, I want to tell this story better and bring more information about their heyday to the startup community. David Connell’s piece “Exploding the Myths of UK Innovation Policy” is a great reference text for this.